Indoor Pool Air Quality – The Ultimate Solution to Bad Air

Anyone who has been around indoor swimming pools knows how awful the air in the room can become if it is not handled correctly.

As swimmers, lifeguards, or pool operators, you begin to dread having to visit facilities that seem to have “out of control” air quality issues. Our noses revolt, our eyes water, and our lungs begin to burn. Many of us have cold or allergy symptoms for days after even the briefest of visits to such facilities.

Aquatic facilities with poor air quality are not just offensive to the senses, they can be dangerous to our health.

At the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this issue has become one of serious concern. As part of a new Model Health Code under development to deal with Recreational Water Illness (RWI), CDC is paying very close attention to air quality around indoor swimming pools. CDC realizes that many of the biological and chemical substances that are of concern while in the water, are just as dangerous once they become airborne in the room.

The most prevalent air quality issue facing indoor swimming pool facilities is that of airborne chloramines. Although infectious biological organisms such as Legionella can spread through an indoor pool environment as well, the dreaded offender at any indoor swimming pool is the excessive “chlorine odor.” Where there is chlorine odor, there are airborne chloramines causing discomfort at best, and sickness and corrosion of equipment at worst.

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The bottom line for anyone who owns, operates, or is planning an indoor aquatic center is that great air quality is a must for a successful facility, and it is easily obtainable through design and implementation of the proper systems. As a long time aquatic facility engineer, I know that a chloramine evacuation system, paired with the right HVAC system, is the wave of the future and will be the standard by which all facilities will be measured.

There is no reason for an indoor aquatic center to suffer the effects of poor air quality. We can design systems to make poor air quality a long lost nightmare that no one has to experience again.